Photo: Press
Social media is funny. It's especially funny when a high-profile artist releases a new album, and 160 character reviews become the norm and photo posts are tagged with endless song quotes. And let's not forget seeing countless premature cries of "classic" before listeners even get through one full spin. The dictionary description for the word classic is "something judged over a period of time to be of the highest quality and outstanding of its kind." Drake's new album Views is not a classic.
But that's not to say that the fourth studio album from Drizzy isn't any good, because it is. However, fans expecting to hear "old Drake" rap his ass off - like he did on recent Meek Mill diss track, 'Summer Sixteen' - might be a little disappointed when they learn that this is more a pop album that follows a dancehall-inspired path than a hip-hop project.
Riding high off of the success of his current UK No.1 'One Dance', as well as the popularity of his and Rihanna's smash hit 'Work', Views continues the celebration of Jamaican culture with yet another Rihanna assisted record - 'Too Good' - and the Beenie Man sampled 'Controlla'. But it's not all island vibes on Drizzy's latest.
Taking it back to "mixtape Drake" on records like '9' and the album's title track, reflective spitting coupled with clever punchlines and moments that leave you screw faced are what puts Drake in a lot of peoples favourite rapper category. Firing off lines like, "Need y'all to know that I never needed none of y'all niggas/ Fuck being all buddy buddy with the opposition/ It's like a front of the plane, nigga, it's all business," it's obvious that Drake isn't about a Hollywood friendship, instead opting to socialise with the friends he grew up with - "And I know who gon' take the fall with me/ They right here on call with me, they all with me."
Other highlights include 'U With Me?', which samples not one but two DMX records - which in itself is strange being that DMX publicly dissed Drake back in 2012 on The Breakfast Club - but standing head and shoulders above the rest of the album is the Mary J. Blige inspired 'Weston Road Flows'. Produced by 40, the track samples 'Mary's Joint' from the classic (notice the correct use of this word) album My Life. Over the beautifully crafted instrumental Drake's punchlines are perfect. Spitting, "Your best day is my worst day/ I get green like Earth Day/ You treat me like I'm born yesterday, you forgot my birthday," and, "Been flowing stupid since Vince Carter was on some through the legs arm in the hoop shit," Drake proves once again he can still run with the best of them when he wants to.
Where it goes wrong for Views is the extended tracklisting. Sitting at 20 tracks long it's a crowded project to say the least. While it might help Drake establish platinum status due to new sales rules involving streaming, it doesn't help the album as a cohesive body of work. 'Grammys', which features a terrible verse and boring hook from Future, is arguably the worst moment on the album. It's either that or 'Pop Style', with its tedious instrumental that feels like the soundtrack to a crack addicts crack den come down. It's so mundane that even the lacklustre guest appearances from Kanye West and Jay Z on the original version that were taken off for Views doesn't make it any better.
Drake is no longer a rap artist, he's a pop star. Views is not a hip-hop album, it's a pop album. With moments of brilliance popping up all over the place, Drake's wordplay continues to get better with time, but the appearance of said wordplay becomes less and less as each album arrives. Singing seems to be Drake's new thing, and at times it's done well, but again, this is more for the pop fan than hip-hop fan. Containing some great moments, Views is definitely an album for the single buying public. Gone is the cohesiveness heard on albums Thank Me Later and Take Care, in its place are some fun and upbeat records sure to help create memories this summer.
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